Should race be issue in District 28 Senate race?

The main body of Alabama Senate District 27 is in Tallapoosa County. A crooked arm reaches down into Lee County, grabbing part of the City of Auburn before narrowing, twisting weirdly, claiming part of Opelika and snaking toward Phenix City. The adjacent District 28 weaves around the west side of that crooked arm, encompassing Macon, Barbour, Bullock and Henry counties, and much of Russell County as well as part of Lee County, including a chunk of south Auburn. A maniac didn't draw those weird districts. They're an example of district lines drawn to achieve a specific purpose.

In the case of District 28, the object was to create a district with a majority black population likely to elect a black legislator to the Alabama Senate, one of eight such Senate districts in the state.

And that's what District 28 has done since 1991 after the district was redrawn following the 1990 census.

Well-funded white candidate

Now, however, that could change. In June's Democratic primary, a well-funded white candidate faced four black candidates and took 48 percent of the vote, nearly enough to avoid a runoff.

Second place�with just 28 percent of the total vote�went to former seven-term Tuskegee mayor Johnny Ford.

The white candidate was Billy Beasley of Clayton in Barbour County, just west of Eufaula. A pharmacist who once owned Auburn's iconic Toomer Drugs, Beasley currently serves as the state representative for District 84 in Barbour, Bullock and Russell counties.

Beasley is also the brother of Jere Beasley, the multimillionaire trial lawyer who served as lieutenant governor under Gov. George Wallace.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that so-called majority-minority districts like District 28 may be required to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, and the creation of such districts is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Supreme Court has also held, however, that the U.S. Constitution requires a strong justification if racial considerations take precedence over traditional districting principles.

That's why this race is so important, Ford said. Ford and Beasley will face each other in the primary runoff next Tuesday.

"If this district is lost, it will be the beginning of the loss of all majority-minority districts in the state," he said. "When the state re-districts again in 2011, the Justice Department will have to take the position that there is no need for majority-minority districts, because the people have reached a point where race is not relevant."

Should race be an issue?

Beasley insists he will represent everyone in the district, white or black. That's what he's done since 2002, he said, when he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives from District 84, also a majority-minority district but created after the 2001 census.

In fact, Beasley goes so far as to say that race should no longer be an issue.

"I think we reached that point a long time ago," he said. "The race issue shouldn't even be discussed, because we're all Alabamians."

Ford, however, maintains that race can still be relevant, and that there are areas in District 28 where race relations are decades behind what people in "fairly progressive" Lee County know.

"The campaign has literally been taken away from me by people in the district who say it's not about me anymore," he said. "They're calling the campaign SOS�Save Our Seat."

There will be an unprecedented effort to get black voters out to the polls next Tuesday, Ford said.

"Mr. Beasley is using money and power," he said. "We're using grassroots organization, revivals and prayer."

A mighty warchest

In fact, Beasley started out the year with a war chest of more than $210,000, compared to Ford's $1,878, according to the Alabama Secretary of State's Web site.

By June 1, according to state records, Beasley had raised nearly $243,000 in additional funding. Ford said he expects Beasley's next report will show at least half a million dollars raised before the primary runoff.

Beasley makes no apologies about being well-financed.

"I come from a little small town, and I'm not as well known as Mr. Ford," he said. "I had to get my message out to the people in the district, and the only way I can do that is with media. I had to raise a lot of money, because media doesn't work on credit."

Much of the money was funneled through Alabama's notorious�but legal�political action committees. State law allows PAC-to-PAC transfers, sometimes leaving a convoluted trail that can be almost impossible to follow, obscuring the identity of donors.

Beasley received nearly $70,000 in April and May from families of PACs operated by lobbyists Johnny Crawford and Fine Geddie Associates, both based in Montgomery. He also received $15,000 from brother Jere and contributions from organizations in both north and west Alabama, far from his home and district in the southeastern part of the state.

During the same period, Beasley spent more than $358,000, enlisting the services of Montgomery-based Mowery Consulting, which engineered former Montgomery mayor Bobby Bright's election to the U.S. Congress, as well as help from several advertising agencies and a second Pensacola-based strategy consultant.

David vs. Goliath

By contrast, Ford raised only a little more than $23,000 through May 16, according to the Alabama Secretary of State's Web site. He said he has raised some $20,000 since the last report.

"This really, truly is David versus Goliath," Ford said.

Beasley received a pharmacy degree from Auburn University in 1962 and operates several drug stores. He was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1998, and then was elected again after redistricting.

Ford received an undergraduate degree in history and sociology from Knoxville College and a master's of public administration from Auburn University-Montgomery.

He served as a state representative from 1998 until 2004, served as Tuskegee mayor for seven terms and is a past president of the Alabama League of Municipalities.

Ford said he feels like he's really running against the powerful and well-known Jere Beasley, but Billy Beasley discounts that notion.

"My mother and daddy taught me to work and they taught my brother to work, and I want to work for the people of district," he said. "If hard work is a liability, I'll take it."

Myron Penn, a black Union Springs attorney who decided not to run for re-election to the District 28 seat, has come out in Beasley's favor. At the same time, an array of black public officials in Lee County, ranging from Auburn City Council member Arthur Dowdell to state Rep. George Bandy, have come out in Ford's support.

One supporter, Lee County Commissioner John Andrew Harris, said he visited Barbour County and was surprised to meet people who thought they would lose their jobs if they didn't vote for Beasley.

"I thought days like that were over," Harris said. "The people in Lee County have to go to the polls like they never went before so they can free those people down there."

Ford has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice with allegations of problems having to do with voting in the primary, mainly in Barbour and Bullock Counties, and says he has people who will testify in court to verify the allegations.

Beasley is highly regarded in his district, however, and maintains that what matters is that a Democrat be elected to the seat.

The winner of the runoff between Ford and Beasley will face Dr. Kim West, an Auburn veterinarian, in the general election in November.

"I hope people will see fit to elect me their next senator as a Democrat," Beasley said. "I've been helping people all my life, and I want to represent all the people. We're Alabamians. We're Americans."